Paper Angel
by twinquies
Summary: But she will defy that barrier if her teammates need her to. Konan.


Salute to Mistress of Sarcamn for being such an awesome author, although she retired long ago. I hope you know you have fans, tons of them.

Story is beta-read to perfection by the lovely Jazeoth 2.0 - It wouldn't have turnd out like this if it wasn't with your help.

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Paper Angel

By Alex

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Konan had never felt so happy about someone in any point of her life.

She was hungry, she was longing, and she was weak and starving and she needed any type of damn food before she keeled over to her death. The rain shows no sympathy, and it stains her lashes and her feet go numb.

While in the fading twilight she carries herself and urges her body to go. Move, move, move until she finds anything—anyone—because behind those amber eyes and that kind smile is something broken, shattered, and she forgets what her life means to her before a hand reaches out to her and she is lifted up, from rain, from suffering, and she sees the light again.

Because it's High Noon when amber eyes meet autumn hair, and she forgets weakness, she forgets ambiguity, and all past wounds are mended by the seams and she finds that she could stand again. Because paper, damp and wet from rain, can be dried over time, and anything made from wood and sap is everlasting and a blank sheet can be drawn on over and over again.

She doesn't feel the rain anymore, she doesn't feel pain. For he who casts away the darkness and brings back her light renewed those forgotten desires. She follows him and smiles—the first one that was actually genuine—and took his hand once more.

She is the embodiment of paper.

* * *

Konan barely knew what love meant until she met Jiraya.

They are alone, in the pit of darkness, when all hope seemed to be lost. But she was happy, nonetheless, because she had Nagato and Yahiko by her side and she knew in her heart that she loved them very much. But as much as she liked to believe she didn't know what it meant to her - to her heart, at least.

Because Konan grew, and into a fine young lady, anxious and cautious of her manners, clean and pretty. But every young flower needs a father, a guardian, and although she knew she was strong, and Nagato and Yahiko were always with her, there was always this empty hole in her chest that needed to be filled.

It was not until the day that Jiraya came to them did Konan know what love meant.

He talked to them with open arms, and more and more Konan felt like the hole in her chest was slowly healing, with bits of paper forming solid. Because love, in the eyes of a young woman, was a very tangible thing, and as Jiraya-sensei continues to be with her she will feel happy.

He laughs and she smiles, each one becoming more truthful than the last, and her growing heart flutters every time she sees them. She loves his warmth, his words, and little by little, Konan feels what she should've felt long before.

She as well did consider him a father.

And when it came to that day when she had to see Jiraya-sensei go, her heart shattered once more and the world was just a blank and bleary slate again, she felt Nagato's hand on her head and Yahiko's eyes on hers she knew she was safe and that she would just have to keep on loving.

She is their paper sister.

* * *

Konan never really knew what death was until she sees Yahiko in her arms.

Her life flashes by her eyes in a second and she forgets who she is and what she is, and stares into the darkness with damp eyes and disbelief.

No longer is the autumn that seems to complement her amber, no longer is the hearty laugh and the caring voice that used to coax her to sleep. No longer is the light in her heart, no longer is the joy, and all she can feel now is just darkness.

Because she simply cannot believe that he is gone, and she has done nothing to protect him, and the rain keeps falling and the paper keeps dripping and her body is tearing apart once more, like when she was lost in rain and that searing pain in her chest throbs even more. Because as long as she had lived they were there with her since forever, since paper and time itself, and she doesn't exactly know what it feels like to lose somebody she truly loved.

Konan, who thought everything was bright and happy for once in her life, felt the weight of the world in her arms once again and what had been found was lost, and it finally comes clear that her friends meant everything to her and would never think of seeing them suffer one more time.

She fixes her mold and oils her paper for the next day.

She is their paper warrior.

* * *

Konan has never felt anything as bright and stunning as Uzumaki Naruto.

She'd been fighting for the whole day, under orders to destroy a village she barely even knew, but if it was for the greater good, and if it was for her teammates, she would do it. She doesn't really know what she's doing here in the Akatsuki, but her mind is a blur and she follows, as long as she still felt Nagato's presence with her and that threshold of autumn hair.

She loves his voice, his aura, which seeps in her soul and makes it bright again, because every time the boy speaks she is reminded of her sensei, her father, and her heart thumps even faster.

But all the more she likes to remember how she used to be - carefree, happy, and safe, caped by the light rain and with Nagato and Yahiko with her for all eternity.

Sometimes she likes to remember they are.

But Nagato is slowly dying, and Yahiko is gone, so she doesn't have a choice and listens. And when her comrades are heaps of still flesh lying side by side, she wraps them with her paper. Because paper mends, and cleans, and as long as she feels them with her paper she knows that they are safe, and they are protected.

And when the Uzumaki kid stands beside her, tired and lonely, but triumphant, she offers him a bouquet of paper and smiles, because it's her turn to protect him.

She is their paper guardian.

* * *

Konan had never loved anything more than she loves Nagato and Yahiko

She is fickle, she is frail, and she is nothing like what she sees in them, leading and freeing and fighting through philosophical context.

No, she is nothing like those two, and she is scared because Nagato possesses power even she can't clearly understand, and Yahiko is leading an organization she knows nothing about but come death and the abyss she will die before she sees it gone.

And she is scared because she can't cast a jutsu to revive a thousand lives, and she is scared because no matter how much she tries she cannot move a thousand people into thinking about peace and peace alone.

But she will defy that barrier if her teammates need her to.

It's her driving force that keeps the organization alive. She is their light, their supreme source of justice, the one to stand in between Hell and high water if it means she might see them again.

And in the dead of night, when Madara pays her a visit and asks her for her beloved Nagato's body, she takes a deep breath and showers her might and whatever she has left into him, even if it means it'll kill her.

Because these people want Nagato for his power and Yahiko for his leadership, and nothing will break her from fighting to her death because Hell be damned.

They'll be gone before they see her stop.

She is their paper angel.

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.:The true measure of a shinobi is not how he lives but how he dies. It's not what they do in life, but what they did before dying which proves their worth.:.

-Jiraya


End file.
